Josh van der Flier and Stuart McCloskey are in line to make their Test debuts in Ireland's starting 15 against England at Twickenham this Saturday.
Joe Schmidt will confirm his selection at lunchtime today, with the Leinster openside and Ulster inside centre set to be rewarded for their outstanding interprovincial form this season.
Joe Schmidt had strongly intimated after last Friday’s open session in Mullingar that the circumstances of Ireland’s campaign to date, with retention of their title now “a long shot”, made it more feasible for him to try one or two new players in the remainder of the tournament.
To a degree, his hand appears to have been forced by the hamstring injury which Jared Payne picked up in his unstinting defensive effort in Paris and which has prevented him from training fully this week.
McCloskey (23) has nailed down the number 12 jersey for Ulster this season under Les Kiss, starting in 16 of his 18 appearances to date.
With Robbie Henshaw shifting to outside centre to accommodate McCloskey, who stands at 1.92m (6ft 2½in) and weighs in at 109kg (17st 2lb), they certainly form a hugely physical, exciting and young midfield combination, albeit an inexperienced one. Payne has been the key man in Ireland’s defensive effort with his superb reads and tackle execution.
Workrate
Van der Flier, the 22-year-old product of Wesley College, UCD and the Leinster academy, has probably been to all intents and purposes the rookie of the year.
There would have been long odds on him making his debut in the Six Nations at the start of the season, having only started two games for Leinster before this campaign. But his excellent work at the breakdown, enormous workrate in defence and link play (not a pronounced feature of Ireland's game to date) have seen him cement his status as Leinster's openside in 10 starts and four more appearances off the bench. He also adds to the backrow's physicality.
Van der Flier and McCloskey both ran in the Irish XV at ‘7’ and ‘12’ in Mullingar last Friday, as did 22-year-old Connacht lock Ultan Dillane, a one-time Tralee RFC player and a standout product of the Connacht academy and Corinthians.
But presumably Schmidt and Simon Easterby were of a mind to give Donnacha Ryan some game time with Munster, like Cian Healy and Mike Ross with Leinster. In any event, Dillane seems sure to be named at least on the bench, thus raising the likelihood of him becoming Ireland's third debutant on the day.
The scrum, which has arguably cost Ireland two wins to date, and has had some unhappy outings at Twickenham, should also be strengthened by the return of Healy and Ross to the match-day 23. Jack McGrath's outstanding form means he will keep the number 1 jersey whereas Schmidt normally starts Ross when he is fit and available.
With Keith Earls likely to return on the left wing in the absence of Dave Kearney, Simon Zebo looks best placed of the remaining outside backs to provide cover off the bench as a wing-cum-fullback. Despite his faux pas in Paris with his restart after Maxime Medard's try, Ian Madigan's versatility ought to see him retain his place amongst the replacements.
Given Tommy O’Donnell was surprisingly released back to Munster last weekend despite his hour-long exertions in Paris, Rhys Ruddock’s versatility across the backrow and indeed second-row, may see him picked on the bench.
Meanwhile, Eddie Jones has called up Courtney Lawes to England’s squad of 23 for Saturday’s game as a replacement for Joe Launchbury, who has been ruled out with a hamstring injury.
Launchbury started in England's opening Six Nations match, the 15-9 victory against Scotland at Murrayfield. He was then on the bench for the 40-9 win against Italy in Rome, losing his place to Lawes.
Possible Ireland XV v England
(Twickenham, Saturday, 4.50pm)
15 Rob Kearney (Leinster)
14 Andrew Trimble (Ulster)
13 Robbie Henshaw (Connacht)
12 Stuart McCloskey (Ulster)
11 Keith Earls (Munster)
10 Johnny Sexton (Leinster)
9 Conor Murray (Munster)
1 Jack McGrath (Leinster)
2 Rory Best (Ulster, capt)
3 Mike Ross (Leinster)
4 Donnacha Ryan (Munster)
5 Devin Toner (Leinster)
6 C J Stander (Munster)
7 Josh van der Flier (Leinster)
8 Jamie Heaslip (Leinster)
Replacements: R Strauss (Leinster), C Healy (Leinster), N White (Connacht), U Dillane (Connacht), R Ruddock (Leinster), E Reddan (Leinster), I Madigan (Leinster), S Zebo (Munster).
